First Minot Snow

Tuesday, 27 October.  The day of our first ND snow storm.  Apparently it often comes earlier.  Anytime in October is early enough for me and my GRITS (Girl Raised In The South).

Our Street

Our Duplex

Our Dog

Our Dog with his tennis ball

Deac loves playing in the snow, but he doesn’t much care for it blowing in his face.  Laura and I really enjoyed this first snow, even snow shoveling was not all that bad.  The weather is suppose to warm up enough over the next few days to melt the snow.  After enjoying watching it fall, we will not mind watching it melt.  There is no doubt that we will have plenty of time to play in snow this winter!

Medora & The Badlands

Laura takes in the view

“It was here that the romance of my life began.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

Sunday morning Laura and I set off on a four hour drive to Medora, ND.  Our plans included spending Sunday in the town of Medora, attending the “world famous” Medora Musical Sunday evening, camping Sunday night, and spending Monday exploring the Badlands in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Downton Medora

The Badlands

A bison walks down the road, toward us.

An absolutely awesome animal

Bison can weigh over 2000 lbs, run 35 mph, and turn quicker than a horse.  They are truly awe inspiring.

Our spot for the night... or so we thought

It was easy to appreciate Roosevelt's fascination with the Badlands

As it turned out, on Sunday we were able to take in downtown Medora and explore the national park.

The rain started about half an hour before the musical (which is outside) was scheduled to start… and it just got worse… and heavy lightning came… by the time we got back to our tent it was in 3 inches of water, and the weather experts were predicting steady rain for the next 24 hours.  After discussing all of our options, we decided to throw our soaked tent in the back of the 4Runner and drive back to Minot.  It was 2:45 a.m. when we pulled into our drive way, but the late night drive was completely worth it.  We are enjoying a rainy Labor Day at home, and Deac is enjoying being back after spending a couple of nights in a kennel.

Deac, our new dog

Last Thursday evening Laura and I picked up our new friend, a 1 year old Golden Retriever/Yellow Lab mix.

DEAC

Showing Laura some love

Running with a tennis ball

Being praised for sitting on command

Running with a ball, beside Laura

Posing for the camera

Minot AFB, ND

Why not Minot?  Freezin’ is the Reason!  It has been two weeks since we first pulled onto base and so far the weather has been amazing.  The highs have typically been in the low/mid 70s (currently 53) and we have had tons of sunshine.   I know that cool summer days with long hours of sunshine lead to brutally cold winter days with long hours of darkness, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Our time here so far has been great.  We are living on base in company grade officer housing, so we are surrounded by other young couples who are in a similar situation.  The base community is great and the simplicity of the city is a nice change.

Neither of us had ever been to North Dakota, so moving here has definitely been a new experience.  The state is beautiful and the people are incredibly nice.  I have quickly realized that, in Minot, when someone ask me how I am doing they are not only actually interested in the response, but very likely to follow-up on it.

All of our “stuff” was delivered yesterday, so I am currently surrounded by boxes.  Exactly one month had passed since they packed up our belongings in San Antonio… it is exciting to have everything back.  We utilized the week we had in our empty new home to do some painting.

On the way up, we spent a few days in CO were we got to catch up with a good friend from Wake Forest, do some hiking, explore Colorado Springs, Denver, Boulder and Ft. Collins, and attend a Rockies game (which ended with a walk-off home run).  From CO, we drove through Wyoming and the Black Hills of SD, where we visited Mt. Rushmore and spent the night in Rapid City.   We really enjoyed the road trip, despite the fact that we were driving two vehicles.  We have found that books on CD make long drives much more enjoyable.

As far as the base itself goes, the facilities here are generally fairly new and nice.  The fitness center is great, our house was just built, the shopping/grocery stores are new, and the outdoor recreation center has snow mobiles we can rent!

Well, time to get unpacking.  I will try to put up some pictures of our trip and the local area soon.

Fredericksburg, TX and LBJ’s Ranch

Today is our third anniversary.  To celebrate and reflect back on our three years of marriage, we spent this past weekend in Fredericksburg, TX.   Set in the beautiful Hill Country, Fredericksburg is a small town that has an ideal Main Street stretch and offers plenty to do in the local area.

After settling into our room at the Fredericksburg Inn and Suites on Friday afternoon, we walked down Main Street and had dinner at the Navajo Grill.  I would easily put that place in the top 5 restaurants I have ever been to.  It is probably the only restaurant I have ever thought to be under-priced… so yeah, I would HIGHLY recommend it.

On Saturday we drove about 18 miles out to LBJ’s Ranch.  The ranch is in a beautiful area and we really enjoyed touring it.  The one thing that really struck me about the ranch was its simplicity.  Apart from the Presidential Seals and the pictures, I would have never guessed that, at one time, the President of the U.S. lived there.  Interestingly enough, Johnson spent 25% of his presidency at the ranch.

A shot from the ranch.

Front porch of the "Texas White House".

LBJ's headstone is fourth in the line from the right.

After the ranch, we went back to Main Street were we had lunch, walked around and visited some of the various shops, and enjoyed a wine tasting at one of the wineries.

Our Saturday evening was spent at the Inn’s pool and hot tub… a little R&R.

Before leaving town, we stopped at Das Peach Haus to get some peaches.

We are very thankful for the three years God has blessed us with and we are excited about what He has in store for us.

San Padre and Houston

San Padre:

We spent our Memorial Day weekend at North San Padre Island, near Corpus Christi, TX.  We were there with four of our friends, Ryan and Jenna Davis and Rob and Marrisa Bondurant.

After a late Friday night dinner, we all went to the grocery store to get some supplies for the weekend.  It was late and the girls were exhausted, so we guys offered to go in and get the goods.  I think they immediately regretted the decision to let us grocery shop alone when they got a glimpse of us strolling through the parking lot in these genuine HEB shirts.

In for groceries, out with these sweet shirts!

We had a great time at San Padre, but it was due to the friends we were with and not to the beach.  As far as beaches go, outside of fishing, I would not recommend North San Padre Island.  I have heard that South Padre Island is a bit nicer, but a very reliable Texan told me that the beaches there are about the same as the ones at North San Padre.  As you can see in the picture below, the beaches were covered in sea weed.  Dry, crusty,  thick and deep sea weed that made activities in the sand virtually impossible.

Our vehicles on the National Seashore.

We did visit Port Aransas for dinner on Saturday night and if you ever do find yourself in the area, I would recommend spending some time at Port A.

I was really excited about visiting the San Padre Island National Seashore. Our original plan was to stay in a hotel on Friday night, then camp at the National Seashore on Saturday night.  Rob and Marissa had to go back on Saturday night, leaving Ryan, Jenna, Laura and I to camp.  After spending Saturday on the beach, we decided that a night in a tent with the sand, salt water, heat and mosquitoes sounded fairly unpleasant… so we ended up getting a hotel for the second night as well.  And yes, there were mosquitoes on the beach…something I had never before experienced.

Something else that you might have gathered from the photo above is that they allow vehicles on the beach.  I was really excited about that, because I had never driven on the beach before.  Much of the National Seashore is 4 wheel drive only, so I figured we go drive into that and escape the crowd.  Not on Memorial day weekend.  Texas is full of 4 wheel drive vehicles, and a significant number of them were on the beach with us.  Laura and I had driven down the beach when we first got there on Friday, the sand was packed in and very easy to drive in.  Unfortunately for those who drove 2 wheel drive vehicles in on Friday and then camped for a few days, by Sunday the ruts were very deep and the sand was very lose.  On our way out Sunday, we saw quite a few 2 wheel drive vehicles that were stuck and there were a significant number of cars that did not appear to have the ground clearance to get out.  I imagine it turned into a messy scene as the long weekend ended and everyone tried to leave on Monday.

Ryan and I fishing from the Kayak

Driving down a crowded beach.

Laura and Jenna, ready to roll in the Wrangler.

The weekend was a blast, we had a great time and are very thankful for the time we got to spend with Ryan, Jenna, Rob and Marissa!

Houston:

We spent the weekend of June 5th visiting Derek and Merry McKee in Houston, TX.  Derek and I have been friends since we were like five.  I haven’t gotten to see him as much as I would have liked to since we have been in TX, but it is always great when we get to spend some time together.

On Saturday night we all went to an Astros/Cubs game at Minute Maid Park.  Before coming back on Sunday, we went with them to IKEA.  I had never been to an IKEA before, but I had heard great things about them from friends… now I know why, very neat place to shop for anything related to the inside of a house or apartment.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures to share from Houston because we failed to charge our camera battery.

Putt-Putt & a night on the River Walk

It took us until Saturday, but we finally got a round of putt-putt in.

Laura critiques my stroke from a distance

Mom and dad pose in the putt-putt-gazebo

Saturday night was spent on the River Walk, where we had dinner at the Saltgrass Steakhouse.

Dinner at Saltgrass Steakhouse

After dinner we took in the sights on a riverboat cruise, something I would highly recommend if you ever find yourself on the River Walk.  A great thing about the cruise is the history of San Antonio that the cruise guide imparts to the patrons.

Playing a Sanders family staple, Sequence

Canyon Lake, tubing the Guadalupe & breakfast at the Guenther House

My mom rode back from MS with Laura and I on Sunday, Dad stayed behind to work Monday and Tuesday, and then flew in to join us on Wednesday.  I took Wed-Fri off to spend time with them here in San Antonio.  Since our time in TX is very limited now, we are trying to hit some of our favorite places, and I will try to record them on here.

After we picked dad up at the airport on Wednesday we went to the Canyon Cafe for lunch, which is located in the Alamo Quarry Market… a great place to spend an afternoon.  Matt, Lindsey and young Eli Stevens came over for dinner Wednesday night.

A great way to spend a day in this area is in the Hill Country at Canyon Lake and on the Guadalupe River.  On Thursday we went to the lake for a picnic and then tubed the river.   We have rented tubes from River Sports Tubes a couple of times now and would recommend using them if you ever find yourself in the area looking to float the river.  They are located on a spot where the river horseshoes, so you can float a great stretch for about one hour, without having to ride on a shuttle bus.  They will let you float the horseshoe as many times as you would like for one price.

Skipping rocks at Canyon Lake

Laura worked on Friday.  Mom Dad and I headed to the River Walk area where I introduced them to our favorite San Antonio breakfast spot, The Guenther House.

Breakfast at the Guenther House

After breakfast we walked around the well known King William district and then down the River Walk to the Shops at La Villita Historic Arts Village, a unique San Antonio shopping experience.

This stretch of the River Walk near the King William district is beautiful

Siblings graduate in NC & MS

The Carolina grad and his proud family

Will and Phaedra

Tiffany, flanked by the proud family

Mission Accomplished!

On Sunday, May 9th, Laura’s brother Will graduated from UNC.  Laura made it to NC for his graduation, then spent the following week with her family in the Tar Heel state.

She flew from Raleigh, NC, to Jackson, MS, on Friday, May 14th, where I picked her up at the airport.  Unfortunately, I was not able to make Will’s graduation, but I was able to drive to MS for Tiffany’s.

Tiffany graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary’s Marriage and Family Counseling program on Saturday, May 15th.

Cook With A Look. Laura Launches New Business!

Laura has launched a new business, selling custom designed aprons.  Check out her website:

www.cookwithalook.com